Coffee with Craig Show – daily CRE news covering the CEE region, Wednesday, May 17, with Winston Norman, Editor and Chief of EuropaProperty.com.
CEE investment volumes decline significantly yoy says Colliers
The first quarter of 2023 saw CEE investment volumes decline by about 57 percent YoY. According to Colliers, predicting market activity for the remainder of the year, given current conditions, is challenging but could reach €5-6 billion at the current trajectory says the agency in its latest “Q1 2023 Investment Scene” report.
Kevin Turpin, Regional Director of Capital Markets, CEE, explains: “Volumes across CEE were some of the lowest levels recorded since the GFC. Poland still secured a 50 percent share of Q1 2023 volumes, followed by the Czech Republic with 31 percent. Interestingly Romania and Bulgaria both had a better start to the year than in 2021 and 2022.”
Industrial and Logistics reclaimed its leading spot over Offices and Retail in Q1 2023, as activity cooled off and the lack of product being marketed became more apparent. Major transactions included Panattoni disposing of over €300 million in assets in Poland. In the retail sector, Trei divested its supermarket portfolio across CZ & SK for over €200 million.
Despite the reduced levels of activity, the dominance of domestic capital prevails with CEE capital being responsible for 53 percent of volumes, most notably the Czech Republic (41 percent).
MLP Group to scale up speculative development projects
MLP Group is starting speculative construction of around 75,000 sqm of space in total at its three logistics parks. All the projects are set to meet the highest environmental sustainability standards and will be BREEAM certified. The projects are slated for arrival by the end of the year.
“The situation in the modern warehouse industry remains strong. We are seeing strong demand from tenants looking for attractive facilities. Therefore, we have decided to increase the scale of our speculative development projects,” notes Agnieszka Góźdź, Member of the Management Board, Chief Development Officer of MLP Group S.A.
The largest portion, nearly half, of the space will be built at MLP Pruszków II. New space will also be available at MLP Gorzów Wielkopolski and MLP Gliwice.
Deutsche Hypo refinances cross-border portfolio for GLP Capital Partners
Deutsche Hypo – NORD/LB Real Estate Finance, a commercial real estate financier, is to refinance the acquisition costs of three logistics properties leased on a long-term basis on behalf of GLP Capital Partners. The term of the financing is five years.
“The cross-border financing in three jurisdictions is a novelty for Deutsche Hypo – NORD/LB Real Estate Finance,” explains Georg Richard König, Deutsche Hypo – NORD/LB Real Estate Financial Solutions. “We are pleased to have gained GLP Capital Partners as a new customer and to be able to support them with our expertise in real estate financing in national and international markets.”